Cynthia Kersey’s Unstoppable Giving Challenge

Millionaire Mentors ProgramWhat Will YOUR $1,000,000 Idea Be?

Mentor: Dr. Ken Blanchard

Twelve world-famous millionaires share their private secrets for generating $1,000,000 ideas...without accepting a single dollar in return...and show you, step by step, how you can create one, too…All while saving over 4,000 children’s lives!

James Cameron

Bob Proctor

Jack Healey

Rev. Michael Beckwith

Mark Victor Hansen

Wyland

Robert Kiyosaki

Bill Harris

Dave Bach

Dr. Ken Blanchard

Stewart Emory

Lynne Twist

www.unstoppablegivingchallenge.com

© 2008 Unstoppable Foundation.

G I V I N G

THE MILLION DOLLAR IDEA:

HOW TO DEVELOP A MILLION DOLLAR IDEA

TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

AND CHANGE THE WORLD

Cynthia Kersey interviewing Ken Blanchard- Mentor #11

MS. KERSEY: Hi. My name is Cynthia Kersey and I'd like to welcome you to

another edition of the Million Dollar Idea: How to Develop a Million Dollar Idea

to Change Your Life and Change the World. And I'm so excited to be able to bring

to you the next session of these 12 interviews of world famous millionaires,

philanthropists, and business leaders who are showing you their strategies for not

only generating ideas that can make you a lot of money, but they can also help you

make a big difference in the world. And, of course, the intention behind this entire

series is to raise the money to build 40 schools in Africa. And so I'm deeply

grateful to all of the experts who have donated their time to be a part of this. And

also I'm grateful for you, the listeners. You're the ones who are sharing this with

your friends and family and are actually getting the donations that are building

these schools.

Thank you so much. When you hear this interview with our next mentor, you're

going to want to share it with all of your friends. So tell people to go to

unstoppablegivingchallenge.com and sign up for this program and not only are

they going to get amazing information, but the money is going directly to our in-

country partners to build schools that literally will change the lives of African

children for generations to come. So thank you so much.

Now, I'd love to introduce to you today's mentor; Ken Blanchard is nothing less

than a cultural icon. He's considered to be one of the best-selling business

leadership authors of our time. Worldwide, his books have combined sales of

more than 18 million copies in 25 languages including the all time bestseller, The

One Minute Manager.

There have been few people that have influenced the day-to-day management of

people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. He's a prominent sought after

author, speaker and business consultant and he's universally characterized by his

friends, colleagues and clients as one of the most insightful, powerful and

compassionate individuals in business today.

Ken's one of the most influential leadership experts in the world and is respected

for his years of groundbreaking work in the field of leadership and management.

So just as he's helped thousands of businesses become successful, and even more

people to learn to live more fulfilling lives, Ken's insight today will help you not

only develop a million dollar idea, but how you can live a more meaningful and

satisfying life in the process.

So I would like to first just say thank you and welcome to the unstoppable Ken

Blanchard.

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, how you doing? It's great to be with you and

everybody out there. This is a great cause and so we hope we help you but in the

process we're going to help a lot of kids.

MS. KERSEY: Yes, absolutely. You know, Ken, I've been familiar with you and

your work for many, many years and have benefitted from your wisdom and I'd

like for you just to share with the listeners a little bit about your story and what

drew you to this field and this line of work.

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, you know, life is what happens to you when you're

planning on doing something else. So when I was a young kid, I took one of those

vocational preference tests, you know, and it said I should be a salesperson, you

know. So I decided, well, that will be good. I'm going to go to a good Ivy League

school, get a gentlemen's 75 average and then, you know, sell my body to Pillsbury

or Proctor & Gamble or somebody. And it's interesting, in my junior year at

Cornell, Richardson Merrill who owns Vick Chemicals and a number of other

things, had a wonderful summer sales program for juniors where they trained you

for 4 weeks, you worked with their people for 4 weeks, one of their salespeople,

and then they gave you your own district. And so I applied and I got in the finals

and they flew us to New York with, like, 20 finalists and they were going to take

12 and one of my best friends made it too. And we went down and we interviewed

and all, and neither of us got chosen. Which I couldn't believe, so I wrote the vice

president of personnel and said you made a mistake, you know, George Malsey

(ph.) and I can outsell any of those people that you hired. And so nobody had ever

written him a note like that. So I decided to kiss-off business, you know, if they

were that stupid.

MS. KERSEY: Exactly.

MR. BLANCHARD: Because I was bigger than that.

MS. KERSEY: Who needs it?

MR. BLANCHARD: So I decided, what should I do now? And I was a dorm

counselor, in a freshman dormitory and they said, "You'd be a great dean, dean of

students". I said, "Oh, that's great. How do I do that"? They said, "You got to go

to graduate school". I said, "How am I going to do that, go to graduate school with

my average"? They said, "You might want to study". And so I tried to up my

thing but when I applied for a master's degree in education, I couldn't get in

anywhere except Colgate had a small program in education that some people I

knew were in and they provisionally accepted me. You know, which means I had

to get all B's or better or they'd boot me out.

And I go over there and I'm in an education program that was so boring I couldn't

believe it. I had been a government major of political science and it was exciting.

And I'm sitting at the bar at the Colgate Inn the second week and said, "Man, what

am I doing here; this is going to be terrible for two years". So the way God works

is a young sociology professor sitting next to me at the bar. His wife was back

packing up; he had just come from Illinois to Colgate and I was telling him my

story. He said, "Why don't you come and major with me"? I said, "What's

sociology"? He said, "Well we study leadership". And I said, "Well, can I do

that?” He says, "Why not"? He says, "I'm new, they'll probably let me". So I quit

education and Warren Ramshaw got me in and I got a master's in sociology. You

know, he really changed my life. So I said, "I'm ready to be a dean". They said,

"Well, you better get a doctorate's degree". You got to be kidding, a doctorate's

degree, how am I going to do that, you know. And so, those people are really

bright.

I found that graduate school is really more endurance than it is intelligence but I

applied around, couldn't get in again. But I knew a professor at Cornell and he

provisionally accepted me into an educational leadership program. And so I ended

up going to Cornell and getting a doctorate's degree in educational leadership and

organizational behavior. And so I said, "I'm ready to be a dean, can I do that

now"? And they said, "Yeah". And so I went to all these big national meetings for

dean of students and I thought that the problem with the dean of students' office

was that it was in the basement of the administration building and that's about

where it was in the hierarchy. So I thought they all should work closely with the

faculty. So all the jobs I applied that would work closely with the faculty. And I

had great interviews at Dartmouth, and Southern Illinois, and Wellseley and they

all were going to invite me to campus; never heard from any of them.

So I called this guy at Dartmouth who I got out and drank with and I said, "How

come you didn't invite me to campus"? And he said, "Ken, I feel bad, I was going

to call you. You got two terrible recommendations in your personnel file". You

know, in those days you couldn't look at your file. I said, "From whom"? He said,

"The dean of students and the associate dean". I said, "Nice, what did the dean

say"? He said, "Ken Blanchard's a wonderful guy. He's great working in the

dormitories but don't let him near the faculty, he's got no academic interest". I

thought that's really something. You know, I took his course; we called it

"Sleeping with Stan". You know, he was terrible. So I said, "What did the

associate dean say"? He said, "Ken Blanchard is a wonderful guy, not particularly

intelligent and all". And so, I'm dead.

I went back to the bar and there was a doctoral student in social psych who had

gone to Harvard Business School and I told him my story and he said, "You know,

the new president of Ohio University was at Harvard and I know him, why don't

you write him and tell him about what you're interested in"? So I wrote to Vernon

Alden, the president of Ohio University, and he turned my letter over to the dean of

the business school and the guy calls me and he said, "You know, you have a crazy

background but we got crazy people out here, come on out, I'm looking for

somebody to work closely with me and start a graduate school of administration".

He said, "I thought it's stupid if you have business administration, hospital

administration, educational administration, public administration; why don't we

study administration" and then -- and so I ended up going to Ohio University as

assistant to the dean of the business school. And when I get there, he says, "Ken I

want you to teach". And I said, "Teach? I've never thought about teaching

because all my faculty said I couldn't write". And they said, "You want to be in

universities, you better be an administrator because if you can't publish you'll

perish", you know.

MS. KERSEY: Yeah, right.

MR. BLANCHARD: I mean, I'm telling you because it's a strange story. I want

the listeners to realize, never give up, you know. You never know what the guy's

got in mind for you. So I ended up in the classroom teaching a course that the dean

wanted me to teach and then I fell in love with it, with the students and all that kind

of thing.

And I came home and I said to Margie, I said, "I think I found what I'm supposed

to do". And she says, "That's great, but what are you going to do about writing"? I

said, "That'll be interesting.” So Paul Hersey was the chairman of the department

that the dean put me in and I heard he taught a great course in leadership. And so I

went up to him and I said, "Paul, do you mind if I sit in your course next

semester"? This is December 1966, and he said, "Nobody audits my course. If

you want to take it for credit, you're welcome". And he walked away. And I have a

doctorate's degree and he didn't. But he wouldn't let me audit his course. So I said

to Margie, I said, "Well, how do you like that guy? He wants me to take the course

for credit". She said, "Well, is he any good"? I said, "He's supposed to be great".

She said, "Well, get your ego out of the way and take his damn course". So I took

his course and I wrote the papers and all. And June '67, Hersey comes in my office

and he said, "Ken, I've been teaching leadership for ten years, I think I'm better

than anybody, but I can't write, I'm a nervous wreck and I've been looking for a

good writer like you.” Ha. First time anybody ever told me I could write. You

know, I wrote these papers for his class. He said, "Would you write a textbook

with me"? And I said, "Why not, we should be a great team. You can't write and

I'm not supposed to.” And we wrote a textbook called, "Management of

Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources". It just came out in its

tenth edition. It sells more today than it did in 1969. It's unbelievable. So I went to

see the dean and I said, "I quit as an administrator.” He said, "You can't". I said,

"Why not?” He said, "I was going to fire you because you were lousy". A photo

finish, you know.

And so I ended up teaching and writing and fell in love with this field. But it's

kind of a long story but I thought it's worth it. Because a lot of times people are out

there doing stuff that they don't want to do and they get discouraged because

people tell them that they don't have the skills or they don't, but don't believe

people. If in your heart you have something that comes there that makes sense,

you're going to find a way.

MS. KERSEY: I love your story, Ken. Thanks for sharing it because I think, you

know, as each door was kind of closing and had that door not closed, the new one

wouldn't have opened. And look where you are today and the life that you've

created and the millions of people that you've impacted. Because, way back when,

people didn't see your brilliance; they didn't get it.

MR. BLANCHARD: Yes, and you know, we met Spencer Johnson at a cocktail

party. We came -- I came on sabbatical leave to San Diego in 1976 and we met

Spencer Johnson at a cocktail -- he wrote children's books, value tales. The Value

of Courage: the Story of Jackie Robinson; The Value of Believing in Yourself: The

Story of Louis Pasteur. And also Margie met him and hand-carried him over and

said you guys ought to write a children's book for managers. They won't read

anything else. And that was the beginning of the One Minute Manager. He was

working on a parenting One Minute Book and I invited him to a seminar and he sat

in the back in the last row all day and he came running up and he said, "Forget

parenting, let's go for the One Minute Manager."

I mean, life is really interesting, you know. And, you know, you can see God's

hand in your life probably backwards more that you can see it forward, but it's just

one of those things.

You know, Spencer and I were on the phone the other day just kind of laughing

about us meeting and all. He's working on a -- just finished a wonderful book

called, Peaks and Valleys. You ought to get him on here because it's hard

economic times, how do people have the proper attitude to take a valley and make

a peak out of it?

MS. KERSEY: Right. I love that. So when you look back at your life, what do

you really attribute your success to?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, I think it's really never giving up on yourself and just

believing that there's a niche there, there's something that -- where your passion

and your skill and your destiny can meet. And just know that it might not come --

God doesn't always work in our timetable. You know, I loved in Oh, God, John

Denver says to George Burns, "Did you really create the earth in 7 days?" I mean,

"6 days and the 7th day rest?" And Burns says, "Yes, I did. Remember my days

are longer than yours. When I woke up this morning Freud was in medical

school." Ha. So, it might not always work out exactly when you want. You keep

your head up and look for opportunities and always you're testing your heart and

your passion with your skills and opportunities then something will come up.

MS. KERSEY: Yeah. Well, you know the course is called The Million Dollar

Idea, and so I'm wondering -- I know you get paid a lot of money to give people

advice -- so we're really fortunate that you're here with us today. What would you

tell someone who is looking to develop a big idea, to create a successful business,

to bring forward a project that they're deeply passionate about? What would you

say is the process to do that successfully and create a sustainable business?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, you've got a piece of it when you said something

you're passionate about because first test to create a great idea is what are you

excited about, what do you lose track of time when you're doing something. And

so what is it that you really enjoy doing? And then the second question or test is

the test of purpose which is, will anybody pay you to do it?

MS. KERSEY: Right.

MR. BLANCHARD: Because if they won't pay you to do it, then you have a

hobby. I mean, I like to sing in the shower and all but nobody would ever pay me

to do that. So what you have to do is find something that will match what you're

passionate with and where there is an opportunity. And I think if you kind of look

around and see where are people not getting taken care of? Where are there

opportunities for business? Where's there an opening, you know. Like, Colleen

Barrett has become a good friend of mine,. She just stepped down as president of

Southwest Airlines. And she and Herb, back 36 years ago, flying in America was

an elite thing. People wore coats and ties and dressed up and all that kind of thing.

And they thought, well, wow, what about the common person?. How can we

create an airline that's all about freedom which is the freedom of everybody to fly

to be with friends and relatives for good times and bad times? And so they found a

niche that nobody was filling. So where is there a niche, where is there an

opportunity? Because you have to ground what you're doing in the reality of is

there an opportunity where people will be willing to pay for that service.

MS. KERSEY: Right, right. So once you identify something that you're

passionate about and you know that people will pay for it, and let me just ask you,

do you have a recommendation on how people would go about doing that? Do

they survey people? How do you recommend people facilitate that?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, I think that, I'm a great one at seeking feedback. Like,

when Spencer and I wrote the One Minute Manager, we wrote a first draft and then

we gave it to people close to us to get feedback. What did they like about it?

What would they recommend should be changed about it and all? And then we

made changes. And then we gave it to a wider group and all. And one of the

reasons why that book was successful, is we did about 6 or 7 drafts, each time

widening the circle until people said, "I'd pay 10 dollars to get a Xerox copy of that

book."

MS. KERSEY: Right.

MR. BLANCHARD: And so, you really have to test the market. Don't go off

wildly without getting feedback; would anybody really be interested in doing that.

So ground your idea in the reality of what are the needs out there.

MS. KERSEY: I like that. And what would you say to people who are afraid to

share their idea? I've spoken with people and they're, like, I've got this great idea

but I can't tell anybody about it right now. What's your opinion about that?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, I think a lot of people have a scarcity mentality, you

know. We run around trying to protect everything.

MS. KERSEY: Right.

MR. BLANCHARD: I think that life is full of abundance, you now. I think if you

share your idea, always figure somebody's going to steal it and run away with it.

But they don't know exactly what you have in mind, they don't have your passion

and all that kind of thing. And I think if you don't have an environment where

you're willing to share, you're going to be in trouble anywhere. As you know, I

think you got to get out there and find out if you got -- if anybody will salute it,

you know.

MS. KERSEY: Right, right.

MR. BLANCHARD: If you put it out on the front porch, will anybody lap it up,

you know.

MS. KERSEY: Right. You know, it's interesting because after my first book,

Unstoppable, came out I would get e-mails from people that said, oh, you know, I

love your book but I wanted to write this book. And they felt like they couldn't do

it and I e-mailed them back and said, write the book, it's not going to be the same

book. You know, even if it's the same topic, the way that they would come about it

and express it would be very different than how I do it. So I agree with you. I

think it's important if you love it, you're going to bring an angle to it that's going to

be much different than somebody else.

MR.BLANCHARD: Yes. And some people are afraid to share the drafts of their

books, you know, again, because somebody's going to steal their idea. Well, just

don't worry about it, you know. Suppose if somebody did, well, come up with

another idea.

MS. KERSEY: Exactly.

MR. BLANCHARD: Don't limit yourself by fear. You know fear is false

evidence appearing real.

MS. KERSEY: Yes. So find something you're passionate about, test it, get

feedback. Once you know that it's a viable idea and people will pay money for it,

what would you recommend is the next step?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, the next step, as we call it, the test of creativity. And

the test of creativity is that your income is a function of revenue minus expenses.

And most people, when they try to increase their income, they spend most of their

time trying to manage costs. And you have to pay attention to costs but you're

never going to cost-cut yourself to being a millionaire. So what you have to do is

you have to think about how can you increase your revenue?

And so when my wife and I started our training company, initially, it was just

Margie and I going out and getting jobs and doing training, and speaking and all.

And we suddenly realized is that the only way we made money is for us to get out

there and do it, your body would get tired. So we had this wonderful image of how

we could make money while we slept, you know. That people were sending us

checks while we were sleeping, you know.

And the test of creativity is how can you take what you've already tested and is

successful and parlay that into additional revenue. So we said, gee, what if we

started making audio tapes. What if we started to write books? What if we

brought on other trainers and trained them and got them jobs but took a percentage

of theirs. And so all of a sudden we started all these different ideas and today, you

know, we're going to celebrate our 30th anniversary this year. We got 310 people

working with us; we have an office in Toronto and one in London and partners in

30 nations. And it just parlayed into 5 different kinds of businesses which really is

the test of creativity. I just had my hip replaced and I'm not going anywhere for 3

or 4 months and the business does fine because it's not dependent on me.

MS. KERSEY: Isn't that beautiful? So what I'm hearing is, come up with a great

idea and then look at how can you leverage it, how can you package it or create

different streams of income that capitalize on that information or product or

service.

MR. BLANCHARD: Yes, just like you've done. You did that first book,

Unstoppable. Well, gee, now there's got to be other aspects of that. How can you

parlay that into a business that makes sense? Jack Canfield was one of my doctoral

students at UMass, you know.

MS. KERSEY: Was he really?

MR. BLANCHARD: And look at what he and Mark Victor Hansen have done

with that Chicken Soup.

MS. KERSEY: Oh, yeah.

MR. BLANCHARD: I mean, what a better business where you have everybody

fighting to get their stories in your book.

MS. KERSEY: Yeah, no kidding. Well, they are, I think, the masters of really

leveraging a great concept. I love your idea. So the test of creativity; so you

mentioned before the test of purpose, the test of creativity, what would be the next

step that you would recommend?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, the first one was the test of joy, then the test of

purpose, and then the test of creativity and I think those are the key ones. Sheldon

Bowles who I wrote Raving Fans with, he and I wrote a book called Big Bucks!

together and those were the three key elements that we shared with people to help

them kind of make big bucks. Margie and I, as we built our business, those were

really key elements as we, you know, parlayed that in from just the business with

the two of us and the secretary to being able to expand it and create a fun family

business with a lot of people that we love and care about.

MS. KERSEY: Yeah. When you hired people and started to expand, what do you

think is the most important area that you would expand in first?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, the first area that we decided to expand into was the

product development area. So we brought in people that could help us pull

together training programs that could be multiplied and could be trained for other

people, self-diagnosis tests and things like that so that we could start to when we

were training, leave materials behind - sell them before.

So we got into learning materials as our first aspect. And then from there, we

started saying, wow, we got all these good materials and all, what we need to do is

get people who are trainers who would like to share and do this kind of stuff. And

so we started bringing aboard people who we met at UMass, where I had been a

professor. And there were 6 people, we call them "founding associates" that were

all doctoral students or colleagues of mine at UMass and they all came aboard and

said, "Let's go," and started to help build the business with us. And amazingly, 30

years later, those 6 people are still with us. So often people will come work with

you for a while and then they'll take their business and start their own. But we

created an environment where I think everybody thought it was their business.

MS. KERSEY: Um-hum. Wow, that is unprecedented to bring on --

MR. BLANCHARD: One of the other things that we did too, is the test we use

with people when you're going to hire and bring them aboard is if that person

walks in the front door, if you don't feel a chemical difference in your body, then

why did you hire them?

MS. KERSEY: Really?

MR. BLANCHARD: Why did you bring them aboard? There's enough jerks in

the world, you don't have to work with them, and so we have brought together the

most loving, competent group of people. And I think that's been a wonderful thing

for us is to make sure that it's not just skills but it's character that you're hiring. So

often, people just go after skills and don't see if it's a values match is critical. You

got to have people that you want to work with.

MS. KERSEY: I love that. I've never heard it stated that way; if you don't have a

chemical reaction, and that's a positive one.

MR. BLANCHARD: Forget it, why did you hire them?

MS. KERSEY: Yeah, right. So that's some great advice for people who are

looking to bring forward a product or service that's going to really inspire them and

make a difference. I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the generosity factor. I

love your book and it's a book that you co-authored with Truett Cathy who is the

founder of `Chick-fil-A. And you recommend giving in generosity as the way

towards fulfillment and enduring satisfaction. And you describe this through a

parable that you tell with two different people. I'd like for you just to first tell me

why did you write this book and tell me the importance that you see in how the

generosity factor impacts people.

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, the real reason I got interested in this, I was on a

program, Cynthia, with Sir John Templeton, who is one of the great investment

people over the years. And somebody asked him, "Sir John, what's the greatest

financial advice that you've ever given anybody"? And he said "tithing". He said

I've never known anybody who has tithed at least 10 percent of their income a year

for 10 years who didn't have it coming back ten-fold. He said there's a promise in

the Bible of replenishment. And it's so interesting, it's so -- part of these things are

counterintuitive.

MS. KERSEY: Yes.

MR. BLANCHARD: If you want more money, you need to give it away; if you

want love, you need to give it away; if you want power, you need to give it away,

and I got just fascinated by the whole concept of generosity. And I got to meet

Truett Cathy, who founded Chick-fil-A -- talk about somebody who's created an

amazing organization from a little one restaurant that he had. And he just is the

most generous guy I've ever know. He just keeps on giving it away, giving it

away. And he said I wish there wasn't this replenishment because the more I give

away, the more it comes back and then I got to find another way to give it away.

So the generosity factor is really kind of a fictionalized story about Truett. And

when you talk about generosity, in the Bible it talks about not just generosity of

your treasure, which is the money, but how are you generous with your time. Do

you reach out to others and all? How are you in terms of your talent? Are you

willing to share your skills with others? And then Truett and I added a fourth one

called "touch" which is just reaching out and being with people. And I'm so

convinced that the more generous you are the more comes back your way. My

mother used to say, "Don't do something for somebody else because you're going

to get something back, do it because it's the right thing to do. But watch out, you'll

be amazed at how much comes back". And that's why it's such a powerful idea.

I think that a lot of this financial crisis that we have in this country comes from

greed and self-serving beliefs and all. I mean, take this scam guy (Bernard

Madoff). I mean, it just wiped out Eli Wiesel's whole foundation. How do people

do that kind of thing rather than having a generous heart? Because so many

people, I think, Cynthia, that their success is how much money do I make; how

much recognition do I get for my efforts; and how much power and status do I

have? And, let me tell you, there's nothing wrong with making good money,

there's nothing wrong with getting recognized for your efforts, there's nothing

wrong with power and status. What's wrong is when you think that's who you are.

Because if that's who you think you are, then you've got to continue and get more

of it. And you're spending your life pushing and shoving and promoting yourself.

I mean, that's why I pray for the Donald Trumps of the world. You look at the Bill

Gates and the Warren Buffets and the people that are giving it away as fast as it

comes in. It keeps on coming back to them because I think they're more interested

in significance than success and the opposite of accumulation of wealth, I think, is

generosity.

MS. KERSEY: Yeah. What would you say to someone listening to this that might

not be experiencing right now the financial abundance? Maybe they were down-

sized or maybe the economy they're experiencing, maybe they were real estate

investors, whatever, and they are thinking I'll give once I get, I just don't have it to

give right now. What would you say to them?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, Sir John said, "That's a mistake". He said, "Don't wait

until you have money to give it". He said, "Always, right from the beginning even

when you don't think you have any money, take 10 percent and give it away to

good causes. Then take 10 percent and put it in the bank for a rainy day and learn

to live on 80 percent". I mean, that's another problem with this economic thing is

that people are just unrealistic about the kind of debt that they could accumulate

and all that and weren't saving money for a rainy day and that kind of thing. And I

think that you need to have a generous heart no matter what your expenses.

I know in the Bible, Jesus went on and on about this one woman who gave her last

coin and said, that's a lot better than most of you all are doing that have all this

kind of money. So I think you need to start realizing that we're really here to give,

not to get, and if you give it's amazing what you get.

Tommy Spaulding who stepped down as President of Up with People is working

on a wonderful book now, called, Give/Get and he's got examples of if you give,

it's amazing how much comes back.

MS. KERSEY: So true. Is that book out already?

MR. BLANCHARD: No. It's on its way out.

MS. KERSEY: I love that. You know, I think it's really in the consciousness of

people today about the power of giving and how they've achieved a lot in their

lives and it's left them dissatisfied. And I think it's fantastic that in this day and

age, I think it's, what, 10 million organizations have come together to really solve

the issues of humanity right now. And giving is at the top of minds for people.

What would you say to companies, why do you think it's important that companies

embrace giving?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, I think, for the same reason. But I think, to me, profit

is the applause you get for taking care of your customers, creating a motivating

environment for your people and being a generous citizen in your community.

And I think that if people see you as reaching out and sharing, it's amazing, again,

what will come back to you but it's also, in terms of your reputation -- we have a

giveback program at our company where we take 10 percent of our profits every

year and we distribute it evenly among our employees so that they can give it to

charities of their own choice because we wanted to get them used to tithing and

sharing. And the stories are just wonderful when people really get a chance to find

something. It's got to be a project not a general fund. And then we have a

Blanchard for Others Fund and so if people can't find any specifically, they can

give their money to Blanchard for Others and we choose at least four charities a

year that the company buys. And this has been part of the culture that really is

important. Besides, we have a profit-sharing. So we share the profit and that goes

into people's pockets but we also have the giveback program which is the same

amount as the profit-sharing.

MS. KERSEY: Hm. So, you know, I love the idea that you're living this. You

don't just talk about it; and you just don't write books about it; you're really living it

within your organization. I would love for you to share, maybe, a story of

someone who maybe they weren't tithing before, maybe they weren't experiencing

generosity because they didn't feel like they could and then how that impacted their

lives? Does any story come to mind?

MR. BLANCHARD: We have wonderful stories about that. We had a Mexican-

American fellow in our shipping department and he came to see me and he had

tears in his eyes and all, and he gave $1000 to buy robes for the choir in his little

Catholic parish. And, I mean, he just became a hero to all these people we know,

and he just -- it just touched his heart so much that the joy he could get from

giving. And we just have examples after examples of people where we have

started the process but they end up realizing that this is something important for

them on their own basis. Because I think if you run around in life just trying to

accumulate and protect you got a really sad way of looking at the world and

eventually some people come and take it all from you anyway.

MS. KERSEY: Right. Well, that's true and, you know, I found that giving is the

most self-centered thing we can do, right? When we give, it truly is -- we are

giving to ourselves because of that experience we have and the joy that you

mentioned this gentlemen in the shipping department.

MR. BLANCHARD: I think it really is. And we also -- Truett and I said, "To be

generous you have to have HEART".

H stands for “he” owns it all. A lot of people think well, I ought to give this and

that, and I say, forget giving, you're returning. It's not yours in the first place. It's

all on loan. You know, God owns it all.

E stands for every day is an opportunity. And remember your generosity isn't just

in terms of your money, but it's in terms of your time and your talent and your

touch. What are you doing when somebody is really hurting in your company

and -- to reach out? My title is I'm the chief spiritual officer of our company.

MS. KERSEY: I love that.

MR. BLANCHARD: And every morning I leave a morning message for

everybody and I do three things. One, I tell people who we ought to pray for who's

really hurting, who needs our support and our love. Then I praise people. People

tell me who have done great things and then I leave, kind of, an inspirational

message. And it's just amazing what happens in terms of reaching out to people

when they know that somebody is hurting, because that's part of building a

community. So every day is really an opportunity.

A is action is necessary. Don't just keep on thinking about it. Start doing it. So

start today; don't wait until tomorrow.

R spells remember your blessings, you know. We all are concerned about the

economy and problems here but you're talking about building new schools in

Africa and all and we've got people there who are living on $3 and $4 a month.

And I mean people don't even realize it. And that's why this is a fabulous thing

that you're doing. The need is so tremendous. And we just forget how blessed we

are in this country. No matter what happens, we are among the blessed and we

have to remember that.

And then finally, T is, kind of, thank Him, you know. It's just -- I think we're all

blessed, God didn't make any junk and we ought to thank him.

MS. KERSEY: That's beautiful. I love that. What would you say to someone,

Ken, I'm sure people listening to this are inspired by what you're saying and they

may have a calling, something that they really want to do that makes a difference

in the world. What would you recommend as soon as they finish listening, what

would you recommend that they do even though they may feel afraid or maybe it's

not the right time, maybe I should wait until this economic downturn turns around?

What would you say to them?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, the first thing I'd do is share your passion with people

around you and see what they think. Are they excited about it? And, you know, in

these tough times, there are still people who are willing to invest in good ideas.

But just say, okay, today's the beginning of the rest of my life and I got a passion

here and I'm going to see if I can make it work. And the timing will come.

There are two traits that Norman Vincent Peale taught me when I had the fortune

of writing a book with him called, The Power of Ethical Management. He said,

"patience and persistence". Patience is realizing that God's timetable isn't the exact

same as ours. We mentioned that earlier. And persistence is, keep on going for it.

And when your patience wears out, your persistence has to take over. When you

get frustrated by working hard and it not working out, now patience. And he told a

wonderful story about this guy every night for 6 months prayed to win the lottery,

you know, and he'd say, "Lord, I'm a good person, I take care of my family and all

I want to do is win the lottery". And at the end of 6 months he's got nothing to

show for it, you know. And so he goes to his prayers and he's angry at God and he

said, "You know, I've been really good, I've been taking care of my family, I'm a

good honest hard-working person, you know. Why haven't I gotten one thing out

of it?” And all of a sudden, there's a big crack of lightening and this booming

voice comes down and says, "Do me a favor, buy a ticket".

MS. KERSEY: Help me help you.

MR. BLANCHARD: So you got to have both patience and persistence. But if you

got something in your heart, keep after it. It might not work out exactly today, but

don't give up on it.

MS. KERSEY: That's really powerful. And in your book, The Generosity Factor,

you talked about the power of gratitude.

MR. BLANCHARD: Yes, I think that's such an important thing is, you now, you

probably heard some people suggest that it's a good idea to have a gratitude

journal. And it's a wonderful habit of before you go to bed at night just jot down

all the things that you're grateful for that happened today and all that kind of thing

and it will blow your mind. Because I think that gratitude is a realization that you

really feel blessed and you appreciate all the people that are helping you and all the

energy that's coming your way. Because without gratitude, you start getting a big

ego and thinking it's all about you and all and that's the quickest way to spiral

downwards when you think life circles around you. And that's all ego stuff.

MS. KERSEY: Absolutely. And gratitude helps us focus on all of our blessings

and things that we do have instead of what we don't have or how difficult things

are.

MR. BLANCHARD: Yeah, but --

MS. KERSEY: I remember -- go ahead.

MR. BLANCHARD: I remember when this economic thing happened, Margie put

things in perspective that we've been married 47 years and she said, "You

remember when we first got married? We rented a two-bedroom apartment for

$75 a month in Hamilton, New York". I was getting my master's degree at

Colgate. And she says, "That was a fabulous year. We could probably live in a

two-bedroom apartment.” And so, you just have to put things in perspective. You

know, between stuff and things and what's really important. What's really

important is who you love and who loves you. The rest is junk.

MS. KERSEY: And Ken, you've lived that. I think it was, what, a year or two ago

when your home was burned down with the San Diego fires.

MR. BLANCHARD: Yes, we lost everything. We had been in that house for 25

years and it turned out to be a real blessing. It was interesting, a good friend of

mine, John Ortberg, wrote a wonderful book that you ought to all read, it's called,

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box. And he has a great exercise

in there that I put everybody in our company through about four days before the

fire.

MS. KERSEY: Oh, my goodness.

MR. BLANCHARD: The exercise is 4 o'clock in the afternoon and you got two

piles of Post-its on your desk. One pile says "important forever" and the other says

"temporary stuff". So put a Post-it on everything you see as you're heading home,

you know, your desk, your computer, your secretary, the Coke machine, your

receptionist, your car. When you get home, your golf clubs, your bicycle and

when you go in the house, whoever's there and all that. And notice where you put

the Post-its. And people voice mailed me back saying how powerful that was

because, of course, what's really important is who you love and who loves you and

the rest is all stuff. And so we lost a lot of stuff but nobody got hurt. And you can

rally from those kinds of things.

MS. KERSEY: You know, I know you'd had some time to get some perspective

on it, and you had a great attitude to begin with, but what do you see is the gift of

that experience?

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, I think the gift of that experience is really

accumulation, you know. I think a lot of times we spend too much time just

gathering stuff and one of the things that we're really conscious of now is, you

know, how many outfits do you really need? How many things and I think it gives

you a much more generous outlook because the reality is when everything was

burned down, we were planning to go build houses in Mexico and we didn't have

any old clothes. So we had to go to places and buy some old clothes and just

realize that, wow, here we're down helping these people build a house that would

permit the husband to stay home and not try to beat it across the border because he

needed to make money. What's really important in lives?

I wouldn't want everybody to go through the experience, but it's a wonderful

perspective setter because about ten days before, one of our good friends was

killed on his motorcycle. He was going to his grandson's Little League baseball

game and a nurse came off a double-shift, just fell asleep and ran over him and his

wife called me and asked if I'd do the main eulogy in the service, which I did. And

it was a wonderful service, there were 1000 people there. He was a great guy.

And as we walked up our driveway when they finally let us in and our house

looked like it had been cremated, one of the first things that Margie said, "I'd rather

see this any day than go to your funeral".

MS. KERSEY: Well, you've got a great wife.

MS. BLANCHARD: She's a pretty amazing person, that's for sure.

MS. KERSEY: She's pretty amazing. Absolutely. Wow. Well, Ken, you know, I

just can't thank you so much. I have experienced your generosity and am inspired

by you and just how you live your life. And I know people on the call are going to

feel the same way. What website would you recommend that people go to just to

learn more about you or --

MS. BLANCHARD: Well, there's a new one is at kenblanchard.com which is our

company. And then I also have a ministry called Lead Like Jesus that they might

be interested because when I finally looked at the Bible, I realized everything I

ever wrote about or everything I ever taught, Jesus did and he did it perfectly with

12 incompetent guys. So our ministry is not about converting anybody but the

world is in desperate need of a different leadership role model and he was a perfect

model of what a servant leader was all about. And as I travel around the world,

everybody loves Jesus, they just don't like Christians.

MS. KERSEY: Right.

MR. BLANCHARD: But leadlikejesus.com or kenblanchard.com you could find

out a lot about what we're doing and trying to help.

MS. KERSEY: Well, you're an extraordinary person and I really appreciate your

time. And for everyone listening, I encourage you to use the words of Ken, you

know, the generosity factor. Find something that inspires you though. And have

the courage to move forward and in that process, look at how you can give, how

you can be of service. And in doing so, the floodgates of heaven, the Bible

promises that the floodgates of heaven will pour upon you a blessing that is so

great, you can't contain it. So in that spirit, I encourage every one of you share this

program with your friends, with co-workers. The hundred dollar donation goes

directly to build schools in Africa and we're truly saving the lives of children and

of the community by bringing in clean water and bringing them a hope for the

future. So go to unstoppablegivingchallenge.com and sign up if you haven't

already done so and become a school builder. When you get 10 people who also

get this program, you become a builder and you get all sorts of things for free, but

your name goes on a plaque on a school that really represents your generosity, your

contribution to their lives. So make sure that you do that today.

And again, Ken, thank you so much. I wish you speedy recovery in your hip

replacement.

MR. BLANCHARD: Well, thank you and it's been a real joy and people might

want to even pick up a copy of the One Minute Entrepreneur which is really about

Margie's and my story building our company. But it's just been a joy and get on

board on this. Help these kids in Africa. I think that the world is so small today,

we got to realize how we can help each other and I think education is such an

important step.

MS. KERSEY: It really is. Thank you so much for your support and friendship. I

really appreciate it, Ken. And to everyone else and until our next time together,

continue to be unstoppable. God bless you. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye, Ken.

MR. BLANCHARD: Bye-bye.